Indigenous Peoples

As the fourth-generation descendant of a Blackfoot/Irish couple, Kent Mesplay has great respect for Native American cultures, especially their deference for community and the Earth.

We must recognize both the sovereignty of Native American tribal governments and the Federal Government's trust obligation to Native American people. Native American nations are just that -- nations -- and should be treated in like fashion, with the special circumstance that they are located within the United States.

The federal government is obligated to deal in good faith with Native Americans; honor its treaty obligations; adequately fund programs for the betterment of tribal governments and their people; affirm the religious rights of Native Americans in ceremonies (American Indian Religious Freedom Act); provide funds for innovative economic development initiatives, education and public health programs; and respect land, water and mineral rights within the borders of reservations and traditional lands.

Kent supports efforts to broadly reform the Bureau of Indian Affairs to make this vast agency more responsible and more responsive to tribal governments.

We must have just settlement of the claims of the thousands of Native American uranium miners who have suffered and died from radiation exposure. The stance of secrecy taken by the Atomic Energy Commission during this era and its subsequent claim of government immunity, taken knowingly and immorally at the expense of Native people, is reprehensible. Kent supports the complete clean-up of those mines and tailing piles, which are a profoundly destructive legacy of the Cold War. Native American land and treaty rights often stand as the front line against government and multinational corporate attempts to plunder energy, mineral, timber, fish, and game resources; pollute water, air, and land in the service of the military; expand economically; and consume natural resources. Kent supports legal, political, and grassroots efforts by, and on behalf of, Native Americans to protect their traditions, rights, livelihoods, and sacred spaces.

Kent Mesplay supports the rights of indigenous peoples to their lands, their ways of life, and all other rights of free peoples. He supports the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 13, 2007, and calls for its provisions to be actively supported by our own government and by governments worldwide.